Successful supply chain partnerships depend on a proper foundation from the start. 

The right partner can tell you which transportation providers you should work with, where to source parts and raw materials, how to mitigate risk and more.

The interconnected nature of business today requires mutual dependence and mindfulness — which becomes more complex with every new transaction. 

Each year, SupplyChainBrain readers tell us about thousands of these great partners, and we publish the top 100 most-nominated — along with select case studies. Here, companies can express their appreciation for their partners in logistics, technology or some other area of supply chain management.

This year, we received nominations for supply chain solutions companies of all sizes and industries — who not only solved real-world issues, but exceeded their contractual obligations. Many submissions expressed gratitude for partners that allowed companies to focus on core efforts. Results included new business gains, increased financial savings, improved operational efficiencies and more. 

In the testimonials below, anonymous (and verified) leaders in supply chain management express more of what makes their partners great.

What Must a Partner Bring?

• Reliability. If your word isn't good, neither is your business model.
• Excellence. Second-best is second-rate.
• Value. Is your partner bringing the same-old, same-old that everybody else offers?
• Expertise. Your partner needs to know your business inside and out.
• Problem-solving skills. Is your partner looking to you for answers or is he or she providing them?
• Continuous improvement. Your partner must never stop learning.
• Support. After the sale or implementation, can you find your partner for support?
• Positive attitude. If your partner doesn't have a “can-do” attitude, you need a new partner.
• Global reach. Stay-at-home partners should stay at home.
• Strong leadership. Is your partner reading the manual on leadership — or writing one?

100 Great Supply Chain Partners of 2019

4flow 
'They help us deliver on customer expectations.'

A.N. Deringer Inc.  
'They have the customs information you need.'

Acuitive Solutions  
'We had no airfreight visibility until they came along.'

Agile Sourcing Partners  
'They’re a partner, not merely a supplier.'

Agistix  
'We get real-time data on all transactions worldwide.'

ALOM  
'They always give brilliant support.'

Amber Road  
'They make the holdups at borders painless and seamless.'

Americold Logistics  
'They empower us to make informed decisions.'

AMX Logistics  
'They deliver for us quickly and affordably.'

ArcBest  
'Their people are critical to our success.'

Avetta  
'They have really impacted our safety and compliance for the better.'

Barcoding Inc. 
'They were careful to understand all our requirements.'

Bastian Solutions 
'They really want to know what they can do to help.'

Baxter Planning  
'We’ve been able to lower our supply-chain costs.'

Celect  
'We are excited to continue our growth through them.'

Century Distribution Systems Inc.  
'Their portal has been a huge time saver for us.'

C.H. Robinson  
'They offer proactive ideas to help us succeed.'

Chainalytics  
'We’ve realized significant customer-service improvement.'

Cokeva  
'They have the product support and services that we need.'

Command Alkon  
'Our business is more profitable now and we understand it much better.'

Commonwealth Supply Chain Advisors  
'They have been an invaluable resource for us.'

ControlPay  
'They really have highly professional audit teams.'

Conveyco  
'They eliminated seasonal spikes in our operational expenses.'

Convoy  
'They’re constantly trying to make things better for us.'

Cornerstone Systems  
'Every time you call in, you’re talking with an owner.'

Dayton Freight Lines  
'They’ve got really good communication.'

Demand Solutions  
'They put a lid on our excessive inventory.'

Descartes  
'They help us provide value-added supply-chain services.'

DHL  
'We look forward to continued partnership.'

DMLogic  
'They helped us create incredible efficiencies.'

DMW&H  
'We didn’t expect to be this successful so quickly.'

Dupre Logistics  
'They tackle our daily logistics dilemmas.'

E2open  
'They aided us in collaborating better with our partners.'

Estes Forwarding Worldwide  
'We appreciate their attention to detail and willingness to solve problems.'

EVS  
'We’ve relied heavily on them.'

FastFetch Corporation 
'Their solution was easy to learn and easy to use.'

FedEx  
'They had every service we needed.'

Flash Global 
'We really appreciated their easy-to-use mobile app.'

Flexport  
'They’ve modernized shipping to where it should be.'

Fortna  
'They bring added value to the relationship with us.'

Future Electronics  
'They ensured inventory availability and reduced replenishment time.'

Geodis  
'This partnership allows us to offer innovative logistics solutions.'

GlobalTranz  
'They have a full suite of transportation services and logistics solutions.'
 
GetSwift  
'The quality of our service has improved substantially.'

Honeywell/Intelligrated  
'Our conveyor and sortation systems came in on time and on budget.'

Honeywell/Vocollect  
'Their support team helped solve issues quickly.'

IAM Robotics 
'They reduced the costs of our fulfillment processes.'

IBM 
'They had the tech that works with our business.'

Intelligent Audit  
'They helped us meet our goal of two-day/next-day shipping.'

JDA 
'They minimized our supply-chain risks.'

Kenco Logistics  
'Our order fulfillment is much more efficient now.'

Kinaxis  
'We selected them because of their strength in manufacturing.'

Kuebix 
'They really streamlined our freight spend.'

Kuehne & Nagel  
'Quick and efficient cargo handling.'

LeanCor Supply Chain Group  
'They gave us individual attention.'

Logility  
'Our S&OP process is greatly improved.'

LLamasoft  
'Without them, we couldn’t navigate global trade as well.'

Maersk  
'They really helped simplify our supply chain.'

Manhattan Associates  
'Our supply chain executes flawlessly.'

MercuryGate International  
'They helped us with the critical last mile.'

MFG.com  
'They give us access to thousands of manufacturers.'

Miebach Consulting  
'We are pleased with the design of our supply chain.'

MP Objects  
'Our supply chain is agile and flexible.'

Nexterus  
'They found the best location for our warehouse.'

NSD  
'It’s been an exceptional customer experience.'

Nulogy  
'Our process accuracy exceeded 99 percent.'

Old Dominion Freight Lines  
'We now have the time-sensitive delivery we need.'

Oliver Wight  
'Our organization has never performed better.'

Open Sky Group  
'They are totally committed to delivering the goods.'

Oracle 
'They transform the way manufacturers compete.'

Packaging Concepts & Design  
'The packaging solution is really cost effective.'

Packsize International  
'We’ve saved time and money and been environmentally responsible.'

Penske Logistics  
'They customized a supply-chain solution for us.'

Plantensive  
'We needed them to reshape our supply chain.'

PLS Logistics  
'We relied on them for our temperature-controlled shipments.'

ProQuality Transportation  
'They had the regional focus that we needed.'

Purolator International  
'They helped us find the hidden costs in our supply chain.'

R&L Carriers  
'They became our single-source logistics provider.'

riskmethods  
'They guided us in managing supply-chain risk.'

River Rock Advisors  
'They give us straight, honest feedback.'

Roadie  
'We cut our delivery costs by 30 percent.'

Ryder  
'They brought efficiency to our fleet management needs.'

SAP  
'We needed their digital-transformation expertise.'

SATO  
'We like them because of their quality.'

Saddle Creek Logistics  
'Our speed to market has dramatically improved.'

Savi Technology  
'Our inbound and outbound are better synchronized now.'

Supply Chain Coach  
'Now, our supply chain is performing as it should.'

Surgere  
'We’ve never had better visibility.'

TGW Systems  
'They had the right solution for our omnichannel needs.'

TOTALogistix  
'They improved our total landed cost from India.'

Total Quality Logistics  
'We rely on their freight brokerage services every day.'

Transfix  
'They solved our freight shipping needs.'

TransForm SSO  
'Now invoices are no longer sitting on hold.'

TrueCommerce  
'We’d recommend their Pack & Ship to any business like ours.'

Universal Logistics  
'They surpassed our expectations.'

UPS  
'They met our every need.'

Veridian  
'They’ve enhanced our omnichannel customer engagement.'

Wen-Parker Logistics  
'Their distribution centers are ideally located for us.'

Yale   
'Their forklifts and service are just what we need.' 

Zebra Technologies  
'Their scanners and printers have boosted our productivity.'